The early Church referred to baptism as ‘enlightenment’ or ‘illumination’ and the candidates for baptism as ‘those being enlightened’. The story of the cure of the man born blind and his subsequent progress from physical sight to the insight of faith is a figure of what happens to the baptized person. John writes of the […]
Message for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2014 Read More »
John presents us with a dramatic, even theatrical, encounter. Jesus is described in very human terms, sitting at the well, exhausted from his journey. The woman too is very human. Her appearance at the well at about noon, long after the other village women would have replenished their water supply for the day, may indicate
Message for the 3rd Sunday of Lent Read More »
Today’s Gospel theme is worry and anxiety. The Greek verb in ‘do not be anxious‘ is merimnate, used also in Philippians 4:6, ‘Have no anxiety about anything.’ God gave us life and our body, so he will give us the lesser gifts of food and clothing, and therefore anxiety is unnecessary. We are all prone
Message for Quinquagesima Sunday Read More »
Jesus loves the law and would do nothing to discredit it, but has come to complete it. Thus, he often begins by reinforcing the familiar with, ‘You have heard that it was said…‘ and moves on to, ‘But I say to you…‘ The new understanding usually expands, rather than reduces, the message of the law,
Message for Sexagesima Sunday Read More »
Anger is a very common human experience. Situations make us angry; people make us angry; we get angry with ourselves. Sometimes we know we are wrong to be angry. Much more often, we think we are right. We think the fault lies with others — they have made us angry. Or else certain situations provoke
Message for Septuagesima Sunday Read More »
Oh, she is the salt of the earth,’ we often say when we are referring to a person who is straightforward, honest and without guile: in the words of another saying, in such an individual ‘what you see is what you get.’ In today’s reading, Jesus’ description of his disciples as ‘the salt of the
Message for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
God promised to confer glory on the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations’ by shining a great light upon them, a light that would dispel the darkness of those living in a land of deep shadow. This light would confer glory upon them by increasing their gladness, giving them joy in God’s presence
Message for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – A Read More »
Today we consider an incident, which in the view of some, caused embarrassment in some quarters of the early Church: Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan river. This incident — rather like the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery -reveals something rather shocking and scandalous about Jesus. Since the baptism instigated by
Message for the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord Read More »
The image of the three wise men has become increasingly used over recent years by Christmas card manufacturers who want a product which has a seasonal flavour, but presents the Christian message in a slightly oblique way. Some manufacturers’ catalogues, especially those targeted at business users, have precious little artwork that would indicate the Christian
Message for the Solemnity of the Epiphany Read More »
Marriage in Israel took place in stages. There was engagement, betrothal and then the marriage. The betrothal was the point when the engagement became legal. It took a divorce to break it. Mary and Joseph were at the betrothal stage. On discovering that Mary was pregnant two possible scenarios must have presented themselves to Joseph
Message for the 4th Sunday of Advent Read More »